Rate of Reaction

It is pretty well known that chemistry and biology go hand in hand, and thus, chemical reactions are an essential part of chemistry. Thus, it is essential to have a clear-cut concept about reactions, how they progress, and their rate. Different reactions have different rates of progression, and it all depends on their mechanism and the components that are reacting with each other. The rate of reaction is quite an important topic in biology and needs a clear-cut understanding of reaction mechanisms of chemistry. This article aims to explore the reaction rate from a biological point of view and will proceed accordingly.

The most common and convenient way to measure the reaction rate is by accurately measuring the changes in concentration of the components involved in the reaction over time. The study of reactions and their mechanism, prediction, and measurement is chemical kinetics. It is also used rigorously to deduce probable reaction mechanisms. Chemical kinetics is very important in enzymology, environmental engineering, and chemical engineering subjects.

Definition of Rate of Reaction

In the simplest of words, the reaction rate means that it is the speed at which a chemical reaction takes place and progresses. The rate of reaction meaning is proportional to the increase in the concentration of a product per unit time and to the decrease in the concentration of a reactant per unit time. For different reactions, the rate of reaction is different. The reaction rate is positive all the time, and a negative rate of reaction means that the concentration of the reactant decreases. According to the International Union Of Pure And Applied Chemistry, the unit of time used to measure the change of the components in the reaction should always be seconds (s). 

Mathematical Expression:

Rate=𝚫[C]/𝚫t

Here, 𝚫[C] is the change in product concentration at time 𝚫t.

Various factors are important and influence the rate of a particular reaction. These are electromagnetic radiation, diffusion limit, catalyst, isotopes, pressure, reaction order, concentration, stirring, surface area, etc. The number of species reacting, the physical state of these species, the level of complexity of the reaction, and other such factors also greatly influence the reaction rate. These factors either directly influence the rate of a reaction or influence it in an inversely proportional way. 

Most Commonly Used Units of Reaction Kinetics

The most common units in reaction kinetics are many. In the most common cases, they are expressed as the concentration of the consumed reactant or the concentration of the end product formed or obtained per unit time, usually measured in seconds. The most commonly used units are M/h, M/min, or M/s, which are all different forms of Moles per litre per unit time. To measure the reaction rate accurately, chemists initiate a reaction and take measurements of the concentration of reactants consumed or products formed at different times during the reaction as the reaction advances, and this data is plotted as a function of time on a graph. This helps to determine the rate of the reaction easily. The rate of reaction formula is deeply impacted by this.

Effect of Enzymes on the Rate of Reaction

Enzymes are basically catalysts in a reaction and thus have a deep impact on the progression of a reaction. Therefore, as enzymes are usually proteins, proteins, and Ribonucleic Acids, RNA act as catalysts.

When enzymes finish that, they lower the activation energy of a particular reaction, that is, the one under consideration. It is the minimum energy required for a reaction to occur, and it is highly important in determining the reaction rate. This is done by enzymes by binding a substrate and then holding it in a certain way that catalyzes the reaction to happen much more efficiently. The various factors that affect enzyme activity are as follows :

• Temperature –directly proportional to the rate of reaction. Can be noted clearly in the rate of reaction formula.
• pH value – Extreme pH values can denature enzymes.
• Substrate concentration –It is directly proportional to the rate of the reaction.
• Enzyme concentration – It is also directly proportional.

Effect of Pressure on the Rate of Reaction

The increase or decrease in pressure also has a very deep impact on the reaction rate. Changing the pressure can change the rate of the reaction drastically, and thus, this sort of this article takes a close look at how the changes in pressure can bring about changes in the pressure of the reaction. Increasing the pressure on the gaseous reactants increases the concentration of reactant particles. Thus, there are more reactant particles per unit area. Thus, the number of collisions increases, and so does the reaction rate. Therefore, it can be concluded that the increase in pressure increases the reaction rate and vice versa.

Conclusion

The rate of a reaction is a highly important subject, not just in chemistry but also in biology and a host of other very important subjects, as mentioned before. It has a lot of uses in various professional fields and helps to predict important data. Multiple factors have a deep impact on the rate of a reaction, and each of these factors is either directly or inversely proportional to the rate of a reaction, as in, they either increase, and so does the rate of the reaction or vice versa.

Various other factors such as the effect of enzymes on the rate of a reaction have also been explained in the article so that the reader may clearly understand the concept of rate of reactions and take accurate measurements and make proper predictions.